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Evening Star, Issue 17548, 31 December 1920, Page 6

The Australian scheme for the realisation of two million bales of Woof carry-over Australian wool Realisation, in England ■ may be, as Mr Massey is inclined to think, quite a sound one. It is more doubtful, however, whether the best means are being adopted for the achievement of the object desired. The proposal is that the whole of the surplus wool, representing profits on the Imperial Government's business belonging equally to that Government and the producers, should be taken over by an Australian association in which British interests would be represented, and that this association should dispose of the wool and divide the proceeds. The claims of each wool-owner would be satisfied by shares or debentures immediately, the shares or debentures to be liquidated as the wool is sold. The object of the scheme is to secure stability for the market, and prevent the "cornering" which would certainly take place if the wool were thrown too hastily on the market, to be snapped up by the speculators, who would be able then to control the conditions of sate for years to come. It is insisted that an artificial level of prices is not an object, and it is certain that prices must be substantially lower than they have been during recent years. The wool would be sold largely to the impoverished European countries, who must be assisted by long credits before they will be able to buy.

Stability for the wool market' is an important object. British manufacturers, who oppose this scheme as too much in the interest of the Australian growers, are afraid to buy now- in any quantities lest prices should fall heavily at any time. Disaster to wool-growers would be no less a disaster to them. The British Government has welcomed the proposals. It will be glad to get this wool business off its hands. If the old wool is to be conserved, however, so that the new clips may not be made a sacrifice by its dumping on the market, it seems doubtful whether any association can be as well fitted as the British Government for the exercising of that control. The British Wool Department, by its past holding for extreme prices, has got wool-growers into their present difficulty, and a fair argument might be that it should get them out of it. If an association of growers has to hold on to old wool, for the most part, till the market can return to normal conditions, it may find that it will have to hold on for a longer time than would be practicable for it.

It is onb frorr acros. tb sea< thai suggestions have beei mad'v & far of New Zealand growers joining the new s'ool scheme. The Imperial Government's carry-over of wool includes 856,000 bales from New Zealand in addition to the Australian surplus, and, as Sie Prime Minister points out, the position is more difficult with regard to the New Zealand excess than it is in connection with the other. It is not only* that the new taste of consumers causes the fine wools which Australia, mainly affords to be in more demand now, but the stocks existing of the crossbred product, which makes the bulk of Xew Zealand supplies, are much greater than those of the former. The extravagance which has grown up since the war, and demands only the finest wool, should be a passing phase. It will end when consumers find that they cannot afford it. The other -difficulty is more formidable. Other aspects apart, New Zealand growers would be unlikely to enter a pool in which the chief control of their product would be in Australian hands. Would a scheme of their own, ou the Australian lines, attract them? There has been no »■ far that, it would do so, but the wkiV " : requires much considerate